Forgiven, Not Forgotten
by SaraStar
Summary: Saracentric. Sara's old best friend Amy shows up again after ten years. After revealing Sara her shocking secret, she makes her promise not to tell anyone. Will Sara be able to keep that promise when Amy appears as suspect in her current murder case?
1. Prologue

_Since I've ended **Together We Can **now, I decided to post this one. I've had the idea for this story for a long time already, I just never really wrote it all out.  
I said it in my other story, too, but just because I am careful: English is not my first language, so even though I am doing my very best to make no mistakes, there might still be some. Feel free to let me know when you find one._

For now I hope you enjoy the beginning.  
_/ Eva**

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**_

Forgiven, Not Forgotten

**_Prologue  
_**

"Sara Sidle. I am here to see Amy Greene."

Sara's fingers drummed on the counter nervously. The enormous prison building made her feel uncomfortable and scared, as if she were about to be locked up in a cell, instead of visiting a prisoner.

The guy behind the reception nodded. "That's right. I'll let them know you are here. You can wait over there," he mumbled monotonously, as if he had said that message millions of times before.

Which was, when Sara thought of it, probably true.

"Thank you," she said.

She spun around and headed over to a corner of the entrance hall. A few hard wooden chairs were standing pressed against the wall, two of them occupied, by an old woman and a little further a teenage boy.

He was halfly lying in his seat, chewing gum and seemed to be bored to death.

Sara nodded at the two of them, just out of courtesy, as she walked past. Then she sat down in the chair in the farest corner, hoping she'd be out of sight so she didn't have to talk to anyone.

She crossed one leg over the other, but later on she changed her position again and again.

She felt nervous. She had no idea if Amy would want too see her, after all this time.

But Sara had never dared to visit her earlier. She hated herself for that, considering Amy was once her best friend, but Sara could never forget this icy cold look on Amy's face, when she---

"Miss Sidle?"

A voice interrupted her thoughts and she quickly looked up. It was the same guy who had been standing behind the reception.

"You were here to visit miss Greene, right?"

"Yes... Yes, I am," Sara replied, getting to her feet.

"Follow me, please."

Sara did like he said, as he led her through a long corridor, with lots of doors.

The guy halted at one of the doors and knocked.

Sara waited a step behind him. She felt her heart bumping in her throat. Why was she here? What did she have to say to Amy?

She could still turn around...

Yet she didn't. Her feet seemed to be stuck on the floor. She kept standing there, as the door was opened by a police officer.

"This is the visitor for miss Greene."

The officer nodded and moved away from the doorway, to let Sara in. Sara did a step forward, holding her breath.

Amy was sitting behind a table in an orange jumpsuit. Her blonde hair hang in a messy way along her shoulders and her face was awfully pale.

Her hazel brown eyes stared at Sara, confused. She narrowed her eyes, as if not recognizing her visitor, then she dropped her glance.

"I do not know her."

Sara bit her lip, unsure what to do or say. She knew Amy was lying; of course she had recognized Sara.

But what she had feared the most, was true: Amy did not want to see her.

"Miss Sidle, you can sit down if you want to," the police officer said, as if he hadn't heard Amy.

He closed the door behind him and took place in a corner of the small room.

Sara nervously shifted towards the other chair, but before she could sit down, Amy's voice sounded up again.

"I told you, I do not know who miss Sidle is."

She emphasized 'Sidle' with a cold tone, or was that just Sara's imagination?

"Could you bring me back to my cell, officer?"

The officer still ignored her.

Sara sat down in the chair opposite to Amy and looked at her, but Amy avoided her glance.

"Amy, please..." she said, softly.

"It's me... Sara," she added, even though she knew Amy knew perfectly who she was.

Amy suddenly looked up at her, straight into Sara's eyes. The expression on her face was cold.

"What are you doing here?"

"I just..."

Sara didn't finish her sentence, as she realized she had no idea what she was doing here. Why had she come to see Amy in the first place?

_Because you are my friend_, came into her mind, but that sounded so lame. And besides that, Amy probably didn't even see Sara as a friend anymore...

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," she decided.

"Great. Really, never better," Amy said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Sara looked down at her hands. "I am sorry... that was stupid..."

"Sara, tell me what you're really doing here or just walk away."

"I just... I wanted to... to see you and..."

Sara stumbled over all the unspoken sentences. All of them just sounded so stupid.

She wanted to break through the wall standing in between the two of them and talk with Amy about everything that had happened.

But right now that seemed like an impossible mission.

"Amy, I am sorry for... for---"

"For what? Betraying me?" sounded Amy's cold voice.

Sara swallowed. "I... I guess so..."

"If you're here to tell me lame excuses, then you'd better just go." Amy rose from her chair.

"No, wait... can't we... talk about things?" Sara tried, a pleading look on her face.

It was then when she saw tears had formed in Amy's hazel eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it."

* * *

**To be continued. I hope soon. **


	2. Prologue II

_Thanks so much for the reviews, Becci, Fia and ObsessedTWFan! It means a lot. :)  
__Here's the next part of the prologue. I hope you enjoy._

/Eva 

**

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**

**Prologue II**

**(One Year Before)**

The daylight was fading slowly, as she hurried down the deserted street. Her heart was bumping in her throat and her hands felt sweaty.

She was almost there. Her body shuddered as the memories flashed back into her mind. After tonight it would all be better, she knew that for sure. She would be able to leave everything behind and move on with her life.

_With this idea, she began running. Her footsteps echoed on the road, but she barely heard it.  
_

_There was his house. Now that she had arrived, she halted her ruanning and began walking slower, until she was actually standing still.  
_

_Was this all really worth it? What if she got caught... Then she'd end up in a cell, locked up for probably the rest of her life and be the victim again. He had to be the victim.  
_

_She walked a little further and knelt down behind a parked car, so she'd be out of sight in case anyone would pass by.  
_

_She dropped her bag on the ground. She zipped it open and with trembling hands she pulled the heavy metallic black gun out of it.  
_

_It felt strange to hold a weapon in her hands. The metallic object lay heavily in her hands, as she stood up and carefully peered through the windows of the car, towards his house.  
_

_After what seemed hours, the front door was opened. He came out of the house. _

_A shiver went through her body and she jumped back to the ground, hiding behind the car again.  
_

_She listened to his footsteps walking down the road. When he passed by the car, she took a deep breath and jumped up, pointing the gun right onto him.  
_

_At first he was too shocked to say a word, then he muttered: "W-what are you doing?"  
_

_She didn't respond. Her hands were trembling and new tears formed in her eyes.  
_

"_Listen, I never meant to... you have to---"  
_

"_SHUT UP!"  
_

_He cut off.  
_

_It was now or never. Her fingers went towards the trigger slowly and closing her eyes, she fired. _

One, two... three times.

* * *

Sara Sidle parked her car and turned off the engine. She sighed and leant back in her seat, resting her head.  
Exhaustion was taking her over. She had barely calmed down from the last case and now there was already a new one.

She rubbed her eyes, yawning. She felt as if she could fall asleep any second.

Nevertheless she forced herself to grab her kit and step out of the car.

The contrast between the cool air in her airconditioned car and the heat of the Las Vegas summer air was so huge, that Sara felt dizzy for a moment. She closed her eyes, holding onto her car, before she began heading towards the crime scene.

There was the usual choas of police cars driving off and on and the curious people, trying to get sight of the victim, even though the yellow 'crime scene - do not cross' tape kept them on a distance.

Sara didn't understand them. She could think of a thousand other things to do on her free Sunday, instead of watching how people got killed and the police solved out who committed the crime.

Sara walked on, feeling the sun burning on her skin. A police officer held up the tape for her and she passed it, mumbling a thanks.

Nick was sitting knelt down on the ground, next to the victim.

It was guy in his early thirties, Sara guessed at first sight. He was lying with his arms and legs spred out on the street, his blue t-shirt covered with blood.

Sara sighed as she placed down her kit. Nick looked up at her.

"Sara! You're late."

"Nice to see you, too, Nick," Sara replied, her lips curling in a smile. "What have we got?"

"Tony Johnson, 35. Three gun shots in the chest."

Sara opened her kit and took her camera out of it. Bending over the victim to take a photo, she asked: "Did you find a weapon?"

"Nope." Nick shook his head miserably. "So far we really got nothing."

Sara turned around to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Nick said, coming up from the ground, "no suspects or... anything."

"Has his family been informed?"

"The neighbours claim he doesn't have any. His parents died a few years ago and no brothers or sisters."

"What about friends, girlfriend?"

Nick shrugged his shoulders. "They're over there. Ask them."

"Why am _I _supposed to---oh, whatever."

Sara stood up, slightly annoyed, and walked over to a middle-aged couple, both with worried and tired expressions on their faces.

"Uh... goodmorning, sir, madam," Sara started. "My name is Sara Sidle, I am with the Las Vegas crime lab. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

The man looked at Sara. "We've already told all we know to your co-worker," he said, exasperation in his voice. "My wife and I have been up almost all night. If you don't mind, we'd like to get some rest."

Sara sighed, but forced a smile to her face. "We understand that, sir. I promise this won't take long."

The woman placed a comforting hand on her husband's arm. "It's okay, honey, they're just doing their work. You can ask your questions, miss Sidle."

"Thank you," Sara said, trying hard to supress a yawn. "Uhm... how well did you know mr. Johnson?"

"He has lived next door to us for quite some years now. However, we kind off lost contact with him the last years," the woman said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we used to talk sometimes, but lately we barely do... or did, apart from the polite greetings when we met in the street."

"And uhm... did you notice anything strange about him recently?" Sara tried once again, not liking the way this conversation was going so far.

Now the woman frowned, as if trying to remember something. "Well, now that you mention it... a few days ago I heard fague screaming coming from his house..."

Sara raised an eyebrow, suddenly more awake. "Screaming?"

"Yes, yes," the woman nodded eagerly. "I never really reacted to it, but---"

"Honey, honey, it's probably nothing," her husband said. "Maybe it was the TV."

"That could of course be true," Sara said quickly, not wanting to upset the husband any more, now that he was already annoyed.

And besides that, this conversation finally seemed to lead somewhere.

"Can you tell me more about this... screaming you heard?"

The woman shook her head, nervously. "I am afraid not. I haven't heard it clearly..."

"My wife needs some rest now," the man said.

Sara realized this wasn't going to help them any further. "Well, thank you for your help."

"No problem, no problem," the woman mumbled, as her husband led her away from the crime scene, back towards their house.

* * *

Two hours later, Sara was on her way back to her car. She was just about to step into it, as she felt someone tapping her shoulder.

She spun around quickly, facing a blondhaired girl. Her hazel brown eyes looked at Sara nervously.

"Uhm... can I help you?" she asked, friendly.

The girl looked down. "I guess you don't recognize me anymore."

Sara frowned, feeling confused. "Uh, no... I am sorry..."

She looked at her. The hazel eyes _did _actually seem familiar to her, but in a strange way she couldn't figure out who the girl was.

"It's me, Sara."

Sara got even more confused. This girl knew her name and apparently expected Sara to know hers too.

"I uh... can you please tell me who you are and how you know my name?"

She tried hard to keep her voice friendly, but this was getting on her nerves.

The girl raised her head and looked Sara straight into the eyes. "We used to be best friends, you know."

* * *

**To be continued. Please let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter One

_Here's the first chapter. It's a little short, I know, but I promise the next chapter will be longer again. I was having a hard time with this chapter, but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway.  
I knoweverything must still sound confusing, but everything will be cleared up in the rest of the story. Just wait. ;) _

Thanks for the reviews! I love them:D

_Love/ Eva  
_**_

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Chapter One_**

Sara looked up at Amy. Anyone else would have long given up on trying to talk to someone so stubborn as Amy seemed to be, but Sara felt she couldn't just walk away like this. She couldn't do that. Not to Amy.

"Amy, please, just sit down..."

"S-Sara, I told you, I don't want to talk about it. I don't understand why you don't just go away... no, I don't understand why you came here in the first place."

The words were harsh, and yet Sara realized she had reached part of her goal. Not only was this the longest sentence Amy had spoken since Sara had arrived there, but something had changed in Amy's face as well.

The coldness and anger that had been in her eyes all the time, were slowly fading away.

Sara couldn't exactly tell what it was, but she knew Amy actually appreciated her visit. Maybe she didn't want to admit it, but Sara knew.

And that was why she didn't give up.

"I came here for you, Amy. I wanted to see you. And even though you probably don't believe it or... don't _want _to believe it, I care for you. I really do."

Silence fell. Sara's words hang heavily in the air and Sara waited tensed how Amy would react to them.

After a minute, Amy slowly moved back to her chair and sat down again. She still refused to look at Sara, but it was a start.

Sara reached out over the table and placed her hand over Amy's, but the girl rejected immediately.

"S-sorry... I am sorry..." Sara said, quickly.

"It's okay... just don't touch me."

Sara paused for a moment, before she asked: "Can we... can we talk about what happened?"

"What's the use, Sara? It's not like anything will change when we do that..."

"No, I know, but I feel like... like I have to explain something to you. We never got the chance to talk after..." Sara didn't finish her sentence, but she knew that they both knew what she was talking about.

"There's nothing to explain, Sara. I trusted you and you... you... nevermind."

Amy wiped fresh tears away from her eyelids and swallowed.

"What did I do?"

Amy kept silent for a while. Then she raised her head and looked up at Sara. "Remember when you told me about your family?"

This time it was Sara's turn to clam up. "I don't want to talk about that."

"But you _did _tell me. You trusted me enough to reveal your biggest secret."

"Yeah, well, what has that to do with anything?" Sara said, not liking the fact that the conversation was leading to _her _past now, instead of Amy's.

"Well, that was the same for me. Even though we hadn't seen each other for years, I trusted you enough to tell… well, my secret…"

"I still don't understand why you're bringing this up, Amy."

"When you told me about your past, you made me promise not to tell anyone else. And I always kept my word."

Sara looked down, afraid that she already understood where Amy was going.

"Didn't I, Sara?"

"Yeah… Yeah, you did," Sara mumbled.

She closed her eyes for a second. She knew what Amy was going to say. But it wasn't fair. This was a totally different situation. Wasn't it?

"Then why didn't you keep your word?"

* * *

**To be continued. Let me know what you think, please! **


	4. Chapter One II

_Sorry for the long wait! Anyway, I am back from my vacation and I wrotethis chapter. As promised, it's long, so far the longest chapter in this story. I guess it makes up for the short last chapter. )  
Thanks for reviewing the last chapter!_

Enjoy. I hope. )

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**_Chapter One II_**

**_(One Year Before)_**

Sara stood frozen for a second, just gazing at the girl in front of her. Suddenly it all came back to her.

The eyes, the hair, the voice…

But that, that just couldn't be true. Was this really… could this really be…

"Amelie? Amelie Greene?" Sara asked, in amazement.

She nodded slightly. "It's me."

"Oh, my God!" Sara exclaimed, surprised. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, isn't that a nice way to greet an old friend," Amy said, even though her voice didn't sound angrily.

"No, I mean--- I am just really--- Wow, I can't believe it's you!" Sara shouted. "It's been, like, what? Eight years?"

"I guess so."

"Seriously, what are you doing here? I thought you had moved to New York, to study nursing…"

Amy looked down. "Well, that's kind off a long story… anyway, I ended up not going to college and after five years I moved back to San Francisco. I tried to contact you there, but I never found you…"

"No, I was already working in Las Vegas by then."

Amy stared at Sara's vest, where it said _LVPD_. "You are with the police, aren't you?"

"Well, not exactly… I am a CSI," Sara replied.

As she saw Amy's confused look, she added: "A crime scene investigator."

Sara turned around to show the back of her black vest, saying _Crime Scene Investigations._

"Oh, oh yeah… right…" Amy suddenly seemed to be a little nervous.

As Sara took a closer look at her, she realized Amy wasn't looking well at all. She had bags under her eyes, as if she had had a huge lack of sleep recently and she seemed skinny.

"Are you… alright?" Sara asked, concerned.

"I--- yes, I am," Amy muttered, not looking at Sara.

Sara could always tell when people were hiding something, and with Amy even easier, even though it had been so long since they were best friends.

But she didn't want to push things, so instead of 'Really?', she asked: "Would you like to come with me to my appartment? We could have a drink or something…"

"Oh, uhm… yeah, sure, that'd be great."

Sara gave Amy a smile and opened the door of her car for her. Amy stepped in, holding onto the door with her hand.

As she did that, Sara noticed a large bruise on top of her hand, nearby her knuckles. She looked at it suspiciously, but forced herself to keep her mouth shut for now.

* * *

"Here we are."

Sara opened the front door of her appartment and stepped aside to let Amy in.

The girl walked in, looking around herself.

"I know it's not much, but…"

"It's great, Sara. It really is."

Sara smiled. "Sit down, please. Can I get you anything?"

Amy shook her head as she sat down on Sara's comfortable couch. "No, thank you. I am fine."

Sara sat down in a chair opposite to her. She tried hard to come up with a good way to start talking about the subject she wanted to talk about, but couldn't think of any. Wasn't she supposed to be good at this after so many years being a CSI?

"So, are you living here in Vegas now?" she asked, at last.

Amy shook her head, again. "No, I--- I was visiting a friend--- I mean, someone."

Sara pursed her lips. She could sense something wasn't right. But how was she going to find out?

She couldn't just point blank ask Amy about it. It would be too much asked of their relationship. After all, it _had_ been a very long time…

"I am gonna get a cup of tea. Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Uhm… a cup of tea sounds good."

Sara smiled and turned around to go to the kitchen. As she arrived back in the living-room, carrying two steaming cups of tea, she saw Amy was checking out her framed photographs, which stood on a small closet.

Sara placed down the tea on the table and then walked towards Amy.

"What are you doing?"

"Just seeing… who's that?"

Amy held up the photo frame for Sara to see. It was a photo of her and Greg. She had her arm wrapped around his neck, halfly hanging onto him and they both held glasses of champagne, smiling brightly.

It was taken at the party she and other CSI's had thrown for him when he had passed his test to become a CSI himself.

"Oh…" Sara laughed. "That's Greg. I… we work together."

"Aha."

Amy placed back the photo frame on the closet, causing her sleeve to crawl up a bit. It uncovered the bruise on her hand once again.

Now was her shot.

"Amy, what happened to your hand?" Sara asked, taking Amy's hand carefully.

Amy pulled back her hand out of Sara's grip immediately. "It's nothing."

She turned around and sat down on the couch again. She brushed with her hand through her blond hair nervously, as she asked: "So tell me about this work you're doing. CSI, right?"

Sara sat down too and her eyes stared at Amy concerned. "Don't change the subject. I know something is going on."

"Sara, drop it. It's none of your business."

"So there's an 'it'."

Sara wasn't going to give up. Not because of curiosity; really, she'd rather be spared of new misery or sadness. She got enough of that at work.

But it was out of concern. She felt worried for Amy, and in a strange way also responsible.

"Amy, you can trust me. Really, you can."

Tears appeared in Amy's hazel eyes. She wiped them away quickly and swallowed. "I am fine."

Sara stood up and sat down next to Amy, but the girl rose immediately and moved away from her, until she was standing in front of the window, her back turned to Sara.

Sara cursed at herself that she wasn't better in this. She was just about to open her mouth, unsure what to say yet, when Amy's voice sounded up.

"I trusted him."

Sara looked at Amy's back expectantly. "Who?" she tried, carefully.

"It doesn't matter. We met at this party… he was so nice… he really listened to me when I talked. Something none had ever done for me…"

Sara swallowed. "Go on."

There was a short silence.

"I… I had something to drink… well, more than something, so… I couldn't drive home," Amy went on. Now her voice sounded shaky.

Sara didn't move.

"He-… he offered me a ride home and I, stupid as I was, took the offer…"

Sara held her breath. She knew where this was going, but she didn't want to hear it.

Amy kept silent.

"Did he…" Sara said, softly, almost afraid to get the answer.

Amy's shoulders startedshuddering and soft sobs filled the room.

Sara bit her lip not to start crying too. She came up slowly and shifted towards Amy.

She lifted her arm to place a comforting hand on Amy's shoulder, but hesitated. It waved through the air for a few seconds, before Sara put it on Amy's left shoulder carefully.

Amy spun around by Sara's touch and looked at her with tearfilled eyes.

"None believed me. Or… the few I told about it… T-They said he'd never do something like that and--- they told me I was crazy making it up…"

Sara felt her anger rising. She took a deep breath. "Did you report him?"

"Sara, what do you think yourself? If even my friends won't believe me…"

"But you have to! It's not too late, Amy."

Amy shook her head, firmly wiping her tears away. "It's no use. It's… there's not a tiny piece of proof and," Amy swallowed a few times before she continued, "they are probably just gonna say it was my own fault. Maybe it was that…"

"No, Amy, don't you dare telling yourself that. This wasn't your fault--- not at all!" Sara said, nearly shouting.

Amy looked at Sara, narrowing her eyes. "You are trained to say that, right!"

Sara looked down, before raising her head again and saying: "You have to report him."

"I just told you--- I don't want to do that!" Amy shouted.

"You have to. We can't let him get away with this."

Now Amy's eyes switched from scared to angrily. "We? We! Am I just another case of yours, which you and your CSI friends can solve! I told you this as a friend--- and because I thought I could trust you!"

She turned her back on Sara again and stared into the fading daylight outside of the window.

Sara sighed softly. Was it true what Amy said? Why did she actually want Amy to report so badly? Because she cared about Amy; or just because she wanted to put every guy who did this behind bars?

"You _can_ trust me, Amy," she said, eventually.

"Oh, yeah? Then why do you keep telling me I have to report him?" Amy asked, without turning around.

"Because… because he-… he has to be punished for what he has done."

Now Amy turned around in one move and looked at Sara. "No."

"Amy---"

"NO! No, no, no!" Amy screamed all of the sudden, causing Sara to jump. "I won't do it, I won't!"

Fresh tears ran down her pallid cheeks, as she rushed past Sara. "I never should've told you in the first place!"

She ran towards the front door, but Sara was faster and grabbed her arm. "Amy, wait!"

"Let go of me!"

She drew her arm out of Sara's hand and grasped the door handle, but Sara jumped in her way, blocking the door. "Amy, listen to me, please."

"Let me out, Sara!"

"I am sorry! If you don't want to do it, then don't. I won't force you."

Amy took a deep breath, turned around and plopped down on Sara's couch again. She drew up her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them tightly.

Sara sighed and walked towards her, sitting down too. She slowly moved her hand and took Amy's. It felt cold as ice and surprisingly small.

"I am happy you told me."

Amy looked up at Sara. "Sara, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone about this," she said, softly, a pleading look at her face.

Sara dropped her glance. "I---"

"Sara, please…"

Then Sara raised her head. "I promise."

* * *

**To be continued. Leave me a review, please. I like to know your opinions. )**


	5. Chapter Two

_I'm so sorry for the long waiting! I've had a hard time with this story and actually I still do... that's why it took me so long. I had to determine what I'm going to do with this story. Anyway, to make up for the long waiting, I'm posting two chapters in once.  
I can't promise I'll be posting sooner from now on; I don't want to rush my inspiration. But the new chapters **will** be coming._

Thanks to those who reviewed the previous chapters! It really means a lot and encourages me to move on. So thanks again for the support and enjoy the update. / Eva  
**

* * *

**

**Chapter Two**

There fell a long, uncomfortable silence after Amy had spoken those words.

Sara just sat there, staring down at the wooden table in front of her, but she was fully aware of Amy's eyes glaring at her and waiting for her to answer the question.

_Why didn't you keep your word?_

Why? How was she going to answer that?

She couldn't even begin with explaining Amy how she had been feeling during those days. And it wasn't completely fair what Amy was asking; after all it had been a rather difficult situation for Sara.

But Sara knew Amy needed an explanation, that she was waiting for Sara to tell why she had done it. And could you blame her?

She was in jail. Which was, partly, Sara's fault.

Sara sighed softly, suddenly wishing nothing else than to get away from there. Escape from all these questions which she didn't know how to answer and forget everything.

She realized that she could've expected questions like this. She should've known that all this was going to be brought up again.

Once again Sara wondered why she had come here in the first place.

But she forced herself to stay there. She wasn't cowardly going to run away this time. Not again.

Because if she would leave now, there was no way Amy would even want to see her again and Sara couldn't even disagree with that.

Amy's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Well? Will I get an answer at all?"

Sara slowly raised her head. "I--- you… Amy, believe me, it wasn't even for me either."

Amy raised an eyebrow, causing her face to get a look for skeptism. "Oh, it wasn't?"

"No! You suddenly appeared after I hadn't seen you in year and expect me to---"

"Yeah. You didn't even recognize me. So much for best friends forever, ha."

"So that's why you pretended now to know me when I came here."

Amy shrugged her shoulders. "I guess."

"Well, I saw right through it. So I guess I _do _know you after all, even though you keep on telling me what a terrible friend I am."

"You did?"

"Excuse me, I did what?"

"You knew I was lying."

"Of course I knew," Sara said, putting a string of her dark brown hair behind her ear. "I could always tell when you were lying."

She noticed the conversation had taken a step forward again and felt her self-confidence rising.

It stayed silent for a while. Amy scraped lines with her index fingernail in the wooden table, absent-mindedly.

Sara realized she was overthinking; maybe she wanted to talk about something, but was now thinking about the best way to start it.

It hit Sara suddenly how well she knew Amy, even after so many years. You would say that such a long time not seeing each other would change that, but apparantly it hadn't.

"Sara, I was wondering something."

Again. Again a question she had to answer. Even though, technically, she hadn't even answered the previous question.

Sara folded her hands together, twisting her fingers. "Tell me."

"Why did you promise me not tell anyone, if you knew it was going to come up in… the case?"

"I didn't know that by then!" Sara exclaimed.

"You didn't? So that time in the interrogation room when you and the blond woman…"

"Catherine."

"… Don't care. When you and she were interviewing me…"

"I had no idea what was going on," Sara filled in.**_  
_**


	6. Chapter Two II

**_Chapter Two II_**

(One year before)

An annoying hiphop song filled the air of Sara's car as she was driving to work. She sighed exasperatedly and turned the radio off. She had enough of the stupid music and vague, pointless chatting interrupting her thoughts.

Her mind was still spinning from last nights events and absorbing the information Amy had told her. She had barely slept last night for everything had been bumping through her head all the time.

Had she done right to promise Amy not to tell anyone? Of course there was no way back now, but she highly doubted if it had been the right decision.

Sara shook her head rapidly, trying to get all the thoughts and unanswered questions off of her mind and causing her dark brown curls to bounce around her face. She should've straightened her hair this morning, but her mind had been too distracted to remember it.

She should stop killing herself over this and focus on her work.

The Tony Johnson murder case. They had nothing so far and would have to start from the very beginning, which forced her to be fully concentrated.

Sara pulled over and parked her car in the parking lot of the Lab. She stepped out of it and headed for the entrance.

A few minutes later she entered the locker room, where Greg was sitting at the bench, tightening his shoe laces.

He looked up as Sara walked in.

"Sara! Your curls are back! Love them."

Sara smiled. Greg was the one who really saw her. A new shirt, a new haircut… he always noticed and she loved that about him.

"Thanks, Greg. Although, they're not really back… just forgot to straighten my hair this morning," she replied, opening her locker.

"Oh, but I love straight hair, too. It both looks good on you," Greg said, standing up from the bench.

"Have a good day, Sara."

"Bye, Greggo."

Greg left the room and got almost immediately replaced by a tired-looking Catherine Willows.

"Sara. Interrogation room. Now," she mumbled, monotonously.

Sara pursed her lips angrily. Catherine was the one who never noticed _anything_ on her. In fact, Sara wondered if she cared about her at all.

"Coming," she said.

She slam her locker shut and followed the older woman towards the interrogation room.

"Who are we interviewing?" Sara asked, as they walked down the long hallway.

"Uhm… I've forgotten her name, it's on this paper…" She waved with a paper in her hand. "Anyway, by most of Tony's friends he was last seen at this party, a few days ago. They claim he left the party with a girl… she is here."

Sara nodded slightly as they walked on.

When they passed by the window of the interrogation room, Sara stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes widened by seeing the person inside.

This could not be true. There had to be a mistake.

Catherine opened the door, but noticed Sara wasn't following her and turned around.

"Uhm, Sara? You coming?"

Sara tore her glance away from the window and looked at Catherine, who was holding the door handle, waiting for her.

"Yeah… yeah, I am coming…" she mumbled.

She did a step forward, but then again stopped and looked through the window again. It was her; there was no doubt about that.

"Sara!" Catherine's voice now sounded a little impatiently.

"Are you okay?" she asked, with a glanced at Sara's pallid face.

"I--- what? Yes, I am…"

Catherine shook her head exasperatedly, probably taking this as another one of Sara's 'strange moods', and she pushed the door open.

Sara followed her into the interrogation room, taking a deep breath.

"Miss Greene…" Catherine said, pulling back a chair and taking a seat opposite to the girl.

"What am I doing here, I---"

Amy cut off, shocked, as Sara entered. Sara quickly turned away her face, pretending nothing had happened.

Catherine seemed not to have noticed anything.

Sara took place in a far corner of the room, wishing she could just sink through the floor and disappear. She was well aware of Amy's icy eyes glancing at her.

She wanted to scream that this was not what Amy was thinking and tell her she had no idea what the hell was going on either. But instead she pressed her lips together, not to let any word slip out.

"What am I doing here?" Amy repeated, demandingly, turning her face onto Catherine.

"Miss Greene, what was your relationship to Tony Johnson?" Catherine asked.

Amy's eyes became confused and shocked at first, but she recovered almost immediately. "None. I barely knew the guy."

"Then how come people claim you left the party together with him?"

Sara could've sworn she saw Amy cringe for a slight second by hearing Catherine's question. However, her reply to it seemed as if nothing had happened.

"We _left_ at the same time. _Left_. Does that mean in any way we _went _somewhere together?"

Amy folded her arms and leant back in her seat. Catherine seemed to be slightly taken aback by Amy's quick and sharp answer momentarily.

She brushed a hand through her blond hair. Eventually she asked: "So you deny to knowing mr. Johnson well?"

"Yeah, I do."

To anyone else Amy probably seemed strong and self-confident right now, as if nothing was bothering her, but Sara could somehow see through Amy's mask and knew she wasn't feeling comfortable at all.

It made her suspect something she absolutely did not want to suspect. That Amy had something to do with Tony Johnson's death.

But that couldn't possibly be true, could it?

Sara literally shook her head no, trying to shrug off the suspicions. Catherine noticed her movement and turned her head. "Would you like to say anything, Sara?" she asked, pointedly, with a look of slight annoyance that Sara was leaving everything to her.

"_I_'d like to say something," Amy said. "You can tell me why the hell you're asking me all these questions."

There was a short silence, before Catherine said: "Tony Johnson was murdered the day before yesterday."

Amy froze up, her eyes getting big. "He was… murdered?" she muttered. "But…"

"You seem pretty upset for not knowing mr. Johnson," Catherine declared.

But Amy didn't answer her. She seemed to be completely overwhelmed by the news she had just heard. She let go of her strong attitude and stared at the table in front of her, absent-mindedly.

Then she looked up and said: "I gotta go. Can I go?"

Catherine sighed and then nodded. Amy got to her feet and stormed out of the interrogation room, leaving Catherine and Sara there in silence.

Catherine turned slowly and looked at Sara. "Well, weren't you helpful!" she said, sarcastically.

Under normal circumstances Sara would've snapped something back at Catherine, but too many thoughts were bumping through Sara's mind at that moment to even realized what Catherine had said.

She walked past the older woman and left the room, but Catherine ran after her and grabbed hold of Sara's arm. "Sara, what the hell is going on with you?" she said, nearly shouting.

Sara just pulled her arm back, shot her an angry look and walked away. She entered the locker room and sat down on the bench, burying her face in her hands.

* * *

**To be continued. **


End file.
